How Not to Homeschool

In order to be able to travel full time for a year on our Airstream, we needed to dive into the world of homeschooling. Not only is some form of education for our kids (ages 10 and 12) required by law, it’s just the right thing to do. We wanted this trip to be educational in itself but we also wanted to make sure our kids were continuing to progress in the traditional subjects. There are tons of homeshooling options out there. We decided to purchase a curriculum for the kids to work through. Neither Jamie nor I have any experience in elementary or middle school education, so that seemed to give us the best chance for success.

We have really enjoyed homeschooling (for the most part) so far. Jamie and I love being able to be more deeply involved with our kids’ education. We also really like the flexibility that homeschooling provides. It allows us to do this trip and to work our school schedule around the activities we want to do at each place we visit. I would be lying if I said homeschooling was all rainbows and unicorns though. Homeschooling can be a big struggle when the kids are not motivated to do their work. That often leads to a big battle of the wills that we are still learning to navigate.

We have tried several different ways of motivating the kids when they don’t want to do their schoolwork. Here are the top least effective ways to motivate children in homeschooling based on my experience so far on this trip. Hopefully this will help you develop more successful strategies if you decide to give homeschooling a go.

• Give the kids their school materials right before a long day on the road with no guidance or expectations and say, “Go.” That was our first day of homeschooling. As you can imagine, it went really well.
• Yell at the kids to get their work done – the louder, the better.
• Threaten to take away all their electronics for the next month if they do not just concentrate and finish their lessons. This doesn’t work any better if you combine it with number 2.
• Try to motivate them with the threat of more work. That will likely backfire.
• Say to them, “I wish I could give you grades on this work!” Combine it, again, with number 2. Remember that you are in total control of their program and can give them grades… until you say this. 
• Talk about how you think one of their subjects is too much work when they are within earshot. They will turn that inch into a mile real quick.
• Talk about how much easier you think their sibling’s work is when they are within earshot.
• Ask them if the only reason they are not doing their work is because of the fact that they are lazy. This doesn’t work any better if you combine it with number 2 either.
• Allow them to go a couple days without checking their work since you figure they know what they are doing. If they already knew what they were doing, it would not be called learning, now would it?
• Push them to finish their work without any breaks. This is particularly ineffective if they are “hangry” due to the fact that the tapeworm common among 12 year old boys has robbed them off all their nutrients and energy.
• Threaten them with a return to public school. First, they know you are full of it since you are traveling full time. Second, threatening them with public school now won’t do us any favors when we move somewhere and return to “normal” next year.
• Curse. Sometimes it is oh so tempting… and it feels oh so good. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work for some reason? What the hell?

I asked Jamie for her input on poor homeschooling strategies. She just said, “Things are going well with me and Archer.” I guess that is an indication of just how good of a teacher I am. In fact, Jamie asked Smith if I was a good teacher and he just turned and walked away. He did say “yes” when we pushed and asked him again later though. My guess is that I will continue to learn lessons on how to not homeschool. When I do, I will add them here.

Epilogue

Since originally writing a draft of this a couple months ago, we have gotten into more of a rhythm with our homeschooling. Things are now going well with me and Smith. Jamie is having a bit more of a challenge with Archer now. As my dad used to say, “The sun don’t shine up the same dog’s behind every day”. I think there will always be challenges and they will ebb and flow. It is a great experience though.

Truth be told, homeschooling, at least from these parents’ perspective, is not easy; but, it sure is rewarding. We have learned a lot from our homeschooling experience so far. We have learned how to be more patient, we have learned how to think more like our kids, and we have relearned a lot of basic science and math that we had forgotten long ago. The think I have learned most, though, is how much I appreciate teachers. Teaching two kids is a huge responsibility and is not easy. I don’t know how teachers do this for a class of 25 kids every day. You are amazing.